Fears at Night
by Deborahpflover
Summary: We all have nightmares. But what if your nightmare is based on memories? Dani has a nightmare and is too scared to go back to sleep. Luckily Danny is there to help her. A sweet Danny and Dani bonding moment. It's a one-shot and my first story. Enjoy! Cover made by pale-blue11!


**Heey everyone! This is my very first fanfiction story. I'm happy that I finally found the courage to upload this. :D It's a Danny and Dani bonding one-shot. I always loved Dani's character. Sorry if it's a little bit OOC but I think even she has her breakdown at one point. She has been through a lot in her short life. Please let me know what you think and how I can improve my writing. **

**EDIT: As some of you may have noticed, this story now has a beautifull cover. ^^ My amazing friend pale-blue11 made it for me after reading it. I can't explain how happy I am now. ^^ :D Thank you so much! For everyone who want to see it better, she has it on DevaintArt too: pale-blue11 . deviantart /art/ Fears-at-Night- 385818413 (please delete the spaces)**

******Disclaimer: "Danny Phantom" and all related logos, titles and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. I own nothing. Butch Hartman is the brilliant creator of this awesome show.**

* * *

_Dani flew as fast as she could, pushing herself to her limits. She couldn't stop, she had to keep flying. Or else HE would catch her. But she was losing energy quickly and she knew that she couldn't go on at this speed forever. She didn't sleep well last night and last time she had eaten something was yesterday morning. _

_Dani was running out of energy. And maybe even time. Vlad's ghosts were still behind her and if she didn't lose them very fast, they would catch her._

_Suddenly she felt herself falling down to the ground. Tumbling down with high speed and nothing that would break her fall. She was out of energy. She hit the ground with a loud crash. It echoed down the empty streets. Pain rushed through her body. She felt dull and weak. There was no way she would be able to get up. Her vision began to blur. Darkness came over her, wrapping itself around her and letting her sink away into nothing._

* * *

_When Dani woke up she wasn't on the streets anymore. She was strapped down a table in a lab. A horrible familiar lab. Vlad's lab. Dani could recognize it out thousands. It was the first thing she saw after she was 'born'. Back then, she wasn't in the kind of danger she was in now. She turned against Vlad when she discovered that he didn't love her at all. He was only using her. Therefore, she had all right to turn against him. Unfortunately that's not what Vlad thought. In his eyes she only existed to serve him. And if she didn't serve him then he would make sure that she didn't exist anymore. Not that she had been save if she just had listened to him. He didn't care about her, he would have get rid of her sooner or later._

_As if on a cue, Vlad suddenly appeared. In ghost form this time. _

"_Ah, there you are my little Danielle." He said. "It's been a while since I last saw you."_

_She didn't answer._

"_What? No greetings for your dear 'father', Danielle?"_

"_YOU. are NOT. my FATHER!" shouted Dani angry._

"_Oh yeah, I forgot. I'm not your father, I'm your MASTER. You don't even have parents." And he smiled to poor Dani._

_Tears jumped in Dani's eyes. It was true. She didn't have a real Mommy or Daddy. There was nobody for her. She was on her own, all alone, trying to survive in a world that didn't care if she existed or not._

_Vlad saw her tears. "Oh, don't worry, soon you won't be more than a puddle of goop!"_

_Dani could only watch in fear as Vlad slowly walked towards her. He stopped in front of her and looked down on her. _

"_Time to say goodbye Danielle!" _

_And with those words he pushed a button. _

_Electricity rushed through Dani and she screamed: _

"_AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Dani shot up and looked around. Her heart was beating fast and heavily in her chest. Then she realized that she wasn't in Vlad's lab. She was in a nice little room with baby blue walls, a black ceiling with glow-in-the dark-stars and a small window from where she could see the moon. Against the wall across her stood a table with a computer on it. On her right stood a closet and on her left there was a door.

Dani signed and tried to catch her breath. _'Come on,'_ she thought, _'it's all right. You are in bed, in your new room, in Danny's house. It was just a nightmare. Everything is alright.'_

But even that knowledge couldn't make her fear disappear. Vlad was smart and powerful. He didn't give up quickly. What if he found her here? What if he catched her? What if he killed the Fentons to get her? Or worse: What if he already knew she was here? What if he was making a plan to destroy her on this very moment? What if he was on his way to here?

She couldn't relax, couldn't go back to sleep. She was too afraid. Every sound and shadow made her jump and clutch her blankets in fear. She was shaking over her whole body, her heart still racing at top speed. The nightmare had been to real, to realistic. It had bought back to much memories. Memories she had tried to forget.

She was an **imperfection**.

A **mistake**.

Just a stupid **clone**.

A shadow that couldn't even get close to being half as good as the original.

Nothing more than a mess nobody wanted to clean up.

A freak.

She had no real parents, and the one she had once called 'Dad' thought that she didn't deserve to exist. That he could just use her as long as he needed her. He had sent her into a battle she couldn't win. He had let her siblings, the other clones, die. And he didn't care that she would die too if that would get him what he wanted. And when that didn't work he tried to melt her.

Dani couldn't take it anymore. She jumped up and ran to the door, phased through it and rushed to the room next to hers. She hesitated one moment before shaking the doubts away and enter the room. Once she was inside Dani looked around. It was actually quite similar to hers. Only with more stuff and less girly. But besides that it was almost the same. That wasn't so strange if you knew who's room it was. It was Danny's room. The halfa of whom she was cloned.

"Danny?" she whispered with a tiny voice.

No answer.

"Danny?" she tried again, knowing that he was a deep sleeper.

No response came.

Dani started to panic now.

"Danny?!"

Silcence.

"Danny!"

Still no response. That was it. Dani shot forward to his bed. It was empty. She turned around to look at the rest of the room, paranoid by now. Tears began falling down her cheeks. Where was he? What if something bad happened to him? He was supposed to be here! It couldn't be, could it? It was just a nightmare.

On that moment Danny flew intangibly through the wall.

He spotted her immediately.

"Dani, what's wrong?" He asked, seeing the tear stains down her cheeks.

"Danny!" shouted Dani. Without hesitating she shot forward en threw her arms around him.

Danny wasn't prepared for the sudden attack en fell on the ground, with Dani still holding on him like he was the only lifeline she had. Her little body shook with tears as she hugged Danny with all her strength.

"Dani, calm down. Please, what's wrong? I can't breathe!"

Dani weakend her grip on Danny but she didn't let go of him and continued to sob against his chest.

Danny who was totally surprised by Dani's behavior watched her in silence. _'Dani is crying? But… I've never seen her cry, not even when Vlad told her that she was a mistake and only existed to serve him. Sure, she had tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away as soon as possible and fought back. Why is she crying now?' _He looked against to the sobbing little girl and decided that he needed to calm her down. He hated seeing her sad and he would do everything he could to make her happy again. So he sat up, changed back to human and picked Dani up. Quickly he walked over to his bed, sat down and placed Dani on his lap.

"Shhh, Dani, It's alright. Calm down. I'm here." He whispered to her, rubbing her back.

Slowly Dani's sobbing stopped and she looked up at him with big, puffy eyes.

"That's better, are you gonna tell me what's wrong now Dani?" he asked.

"Dani looked down. "I had a nightmare…"she whispered so soft that Danny could barely hear her.

Danny was stunned. "A nightmare? That's it? Nothing worse? Dani, nightmares aren't real, there's nothing to be afraid of."

But Dani's head snapped up. Fear written on her face. "It wasn't that kind of a nightmare Danny! I dreamed about Vlad! That he captured me and tried to melt me again! And I couldn't escape and then I woke up and I thought, what if he comes back? He'll kill me if he comes back!"

Danny's eyes softend. "I'm sorry Dani, I didn't think of that… But don't worry! Vlad's in space. Far away from you. And if he ever comes back, the whole world will hate him and hunt him down. He won't get you. I promise. I'll protect you."

A tiny smile appeared on Dani's face "Really?"

Danny nodded. "Really, we have kicked his butt before and we'll do it again if he has the nerve to come back!"

Dani giggled. "Yeah…" But her eyes darkened again and her smile fell. "Danny?"she asked quietly, "Why do you help me? I'm not part of your family. I'm just your stupid clone. And not even a good one, I'm an imperfection, a mistake…" New tears rolled down her cheeks. She tried to whip them away, but they just kept coming.

Danny was shocked by her words. Her grapped her and pulled her in a tight hug. "Dani listen to me!" he said, "Don't say that about yourself, you aren't just a stupid clone, you aren't a mistake, you aren't an imperfection! Vlad lied! About everything! Remember? You are your own person. Sure, maybe you have my DNA, but you aren't me. You're different. You're smart, sweet, strong, independent. You're everything I'm not. Don't you ever let somebody tell you something else. And especially NOT Vlad! He's just one crazed up fruitloop. Dani, why did you think I didn't fight you? Because you weren't a mindless clone that followed Vlad. You could think for yourself. You have your own mind, your own soul and your own heart. And that's what makes you you. And that's what I love about you. And you are just as much part of my family as Jazz is. You belong here. Don't ever forget that."

Dani hugged Danny back. "Do you mean that?"

Danny nodded. "Yes, yes I do."

She smiled and hugged him harder. Danny looked down on her and smiled too. "Do you want to stay here tonight? Just to make sure that you don't get another nightmare?" he asked.

Dani nodded. "Yes, please." She whispered.

Danny smiled and lay down, holding Dani tight. Dani snuggeld closer to him and fell closed her eyes. Her fears were gone. She felt safe and loved. Finally. Now she could feel how tired she was. And trusting Danny to protect her against Vlad and nightmares she drifted off to sleep, just managing to whisper "I love you Danny." before she fell asleep.

Danny who was falling asleep too heard her and replied: "I love you too Dani, I love you too."


End file.
